While Mr. Kim Han Was Missing (1)

After a long time, rain fell on Exorsus.

The fine drizzle added an inexplicable charm to the wide garden backdrop.

On the first-floor terrace sat the core members of the legion.

“Is it today?”

The clipped yet worried tone blended with the sound of rain and gently reached his ear. It was Lee Hyo-ju.

“Yes, it’s today.”

Today was the day to consume the Ancient Black Dragon Dragon Heart.

At first, he planned to take it as soon as they left the Garden of Gods and the Kailum incident settled, but Talis and Biosis persuaded him to postpone it.

The harsh training that followed for about twenty days ended today.

“Be careful, companion.”

Starting with Hazel’s voice, Lee Hyo-ju, Mae Young-ryeong, and Arun all voiced their concerns.

“Captain, are you going to die?”

If not for Naruan’s words, the atmosphere could have been a scene from a movie.

He told the group to refrain from outside activities as much as possible and focus on training under Jimnas’s guidance until he returned.

“Come back safely, captain.”

It wasn’t the teasing tone from before. Merus, whose face was covered in blue scales, conveyed his greetings with a serious expression.

“Okay. Take good care of Lee Hyo-ju and Hazel.”

“Yes.”

He patted Merus on the back and headed to the third-floor bedroom.

He had worried a lot about Merus, but after receiving a message from Shio, he decided to accept him.

In the note Merus delivered through someone, it was explained that Merus followed him because of the relationship between Argus’s Eye and the Eyes that Oversee the Battlefield.

Anyway, since Shio the librarian vouched for him, he decided to trust him for now. He firmly believed the issue of Merus’s patron deity would be handled by the four goddesses.

Sophia, the goddess in charge of wisdom and foresight.

This goddess was famous for not participating in the Battlefield of the Gods. In fact, she didn’t attend divine events.

Even Mors attended major events in the divine realm, so Sophia was a complete outsider.

Sophia’s sole task was to record. During periods when the Battlefield of the Gods wasn’t held, she documented which gods did what and what occurred in the divine realm.

When the Battlefield of the Gods opened, she recorded events outside the battlefield—things that occurred among the gods.

Thus she was a high god, but her power wasn’t great.

You could learn these godly traits and records by reading all the books in the library where Sion stayed.

‘Not that I read them myself, though.’

The dense concentration of divine power typical of the underground training hall pleasantly brushed his skin. With each inhale and exhale, the heavy, pure divine power made his body feel good as it flowed through.

He sat comfortably in the center and took out blue bottles one by one.

He poured out about a hundred divine power recovery potions, called mana potions or MP potions in the game.

“The more I look at this, the more amazing it is.”

After Talis’s admiration, he finally took out the Ancient Black Dragon, Dragon Heart, which looked as if its intense blackness could suck in everything around it.

He stared blankly at the status window, then turned his gaze to Talis and Biosis.

“I’ll begin.”

“Alright.”

“Do it.”

He took a deep breath and put the fist-sized Dragon Heart into his mouth.

Unlike when Violentia swallowed a stone, the Dragon Heart melted the moment it entered his mouth like ice cream and slid down his throat.

There was no sudden surge of enormous strength nor any burning sensation.

Finding it odd that everything felt as usual, he was about to ask Biosis and Talis, but their expressions were extremely worried.

That was the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.

After Kim Han was gone, the members of the Rebound Legion moved busily, unlike usual.

While doing their tasks, they checked things twice and thrice, thoroughly. Even the usually careless Arun was no different.

He opened the door to the corner room on the third floor where a prisoner, who would normally be visited once a week at most, was kept.

“Ugh… ugh… uuu!!”

Whether it was pain, ticklishness, or pleasure, the man was in extreme distress.

His cut-out tongue made it impossible to understand any sounds, and his body below the neck couldn’t move, not even to twitch.

Only the bulging veins in his neck, the contortion of his face, and faint groans indicated his suffering.

“Stop.”

At Arun’s voice, the strangely writhing rope that had wrapped the man’s body stopped moving.

“Now, eat.”

He tossed a bowl of porridge from the dining hall and spoke shortly. But instead of eating, Unos strained his throat toward Arun, trying to express something.

“Ugh…! Uuu!! Ugh…!”

“I don’t know what you’re saying. Eat quickly. You have five minutes.”

Even though he could have clearly understood Arun, Unos kept pointing at the porridge bowl with his eyes and made groaning noises while moving his neck violently.

Arun, who had been waiting, removed the porridge bowl and turned away coldly.

“Eat when I give it. I have no idea what you’re saying. Bind.”

“Ugh! Uuu! Uuuuu!!”

When the Bondage of Love and Hate rope began to move again, Unos screamed. But it sounded more like an outcry of resentment than pain.

Watching Arun leave the room, Unos thought to himself:

“You jerk, you should give it so I can eat!!”

Arun never understood what he had done wrong, and that angered Unos even more.

Unaware of Unos’s desperate feelings, the insensitive Arun opened the opposite door and entered.

“Kyaah—!!”

One might have been startled by the woman’s scream the moment the door opened, but Arun remained calm.

“Stop.”

It was the same scene as with Unos. The difference was Katarina’s actions.

As soon as the rope stopped moving, she leapt at Arun like a leopard stalking prey.

Her speed and strength were so great that Arun was stunned and unable to react as Katarina grabbed him.

“Huh? Hey! What are you doing!”

“Stay still! Chom!! Kahahahaha!!”

Katarina was completely intoxicated with lust.

Above all, her strength was tremendous. Even though Arun was flustered, he couldn’t easily shake her off.

Like offering cool water to someone parched, Katarina lunged at Arun.

While Arun, who had superior physical stats, was still saying “uh,” his robe was ripped off. Startled by Katarina’s force that tore his inner clothes, he hurriedly cast a spell.

“Damn! Hold!”

Leaving only his last layer of underwear, he barely cast the spell just before it was torn off. Arun breathed a sigh of relief and got up.

Flinch—

But he overlooked one thing: Katarina, frozen by the Hold spell, still had his underwear clutched in her hand.

Arun was naked in an instant. He locked eyes with Katarina, whose eyes were bloodshot.

Seeing Katarina trembling despite the Hold spell, a terrified Arun cast Hold again and hurriedly dressed.

Of course, he couldn’t retrieve the underwear Katarina held, so he put on a new pair.

“First, bind again.”

“Kyaa!! Kyak!!”

Katarina screamed again as the rope began to writhe.

Only then did Arun relax, step back, and sigh, but he suddenly felt something odd. Today was notably different from before.

Arun’s steps took him to the first-floor reception room where Lee Hyo-ju stayed.

“What did you say?”

“About Katarina. She’s different from before.”

No one reacted as strongly to the name Katarina as Lee Hyo-ju did.

She jumped up and paced for a long time. If Kim Han were here, he would have given a definite answer, but he couldn’t now.

“For now, wait. Watch closely, and forbid giving food until Kim Han comes out.”

“Okay, got it.”

After Arun left, Lee Hyo-ju bit her lip, thinking of Katarina.

“Of all times, now of all times…”

“Ludicer!”

Ludicer, who had been gazing into the air, turned her head at the sharp voice calling her. The four goddesses, including Aetas, were present.

“What is it?”

Perhaps because she grew tense upon seeing Kim Han, Ludicer’s gaze and tone toward the four goddesses were not pleasant.

“I came because I was worried. Don’t be like that.”

Aetas stepped closer to Ludicer and said, sounding a bit hurt.

Ludicer, responding to Aetas, apologized and projected Kim Han’s image into the air.

Kim Han, who had lost consciousness shortly after swallowing the Dragon Heart, was twitching and in pain.

On either side of him, Talis and Biosis were sweating profusely as they held Kim Han’s body with divine power.

“I never thought there would be a representative who reaches the preparatory stage for becoming paralyzed in less than five years.”

Spatium’s voice carried shock rather than admiration. That much emphasized how astonishing Kim Han’s achievement was.

Kim Han’s agonized screams continued and then suddenly subsided.

His struggling slowed, and the Kim Han on the screen began to wobble and shift as if turning into dough.

“Huh?!”

“He really did it, that ruthless guy!”

Unlike the surprised others, Mors glared at Kim Han with an expression of vexation.

At Mors’s words, Aetas clapped her hands as if suddenly remembering and asked her a question.

“Mors, what trouble did you cause this time?”

“Tr-trouble? No, I didn’t!”

Mors bristled. Who would think she was the death god who made the war god Manus flee?

“No way. I heard my representative’s companion Kim Han say he’d kill you. What is it this time?”

“No, that’s not it! I just told a romantic love story… damn it!!”

Ludicer, who knew the situation precisely, twitched her brow and replied in a cold voice.

“You said that dying together was beautiful love? To Naruan? Do you realize that the moment Kim Han heard that, he tried to summon the Creator? Mors, this joke went too far.”

“What?”

“Sigh… Mors!!”

“Has the Lolita pervert finally gone mad with jealousy?”

Unfazed by the other three goddesses’ scolding, Mors exhibited the typical pattern of a woman who only hears what she wants.

“Can he summon the Creator? Kim Han?”

Mors asked Ludicer in surprise. Ludicer nodded firmly at Mors’s question.

“Yes. Once, for one hour. I don’t know what conversation will take place, but I understand he obtained it as a reward from the previous Witch. Behave yourselves. Now the fifth year of killing and being killed truly begins.”

“Tch, fine.”

Mors’s voice was filled with deep regret. Yet her eyes resembled Naruan’s—unwilling to give up.